National Stress Awareness Day - Advice on how to cope with stress at work #Spons

Hey everyone, hope you're well! The first Wednesday in November is always National Stress Awareness day so this year it has fallen on the 7th of November. It's so important to look after ourselves but unfortunately stress is a massive mental health issue that many of us suffer with. I have teamed up with Kalms who are doing a stress awareness campaign focusing on stress in the work place - 'in the past year, 74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope.' (mental health foundation's 2018 study by YouGov.)

Causes of stress:

There can be many causes of stress which can then lead to a person feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope.

Heavy workload

This can be from chores to do at home, things piling up at work, or stresses from family and friends. Sometimes if we have too much going on, or you find you have a to-do list that's never ending it can cause you to feel stressed. This can lead to physical illnesses and other mental illnesses if you don't take care of the stress as soon as you spot it.

Poor work-life balance

This is so important to take care of. We need to have a good work-life balance, if you find that you're working late hours every day or carry your work onto your days off and not having that time to yourself to relax, it can really affect your stress levels.

Lack of support

Sadly, a lot of people may not get the support they need and therefore they can feel overwhelmed and feel like they're alone. It may be that you're stressed at work but there is no real support system in place to help you, or you feel like you don't have anyone you can confide in. It's important to us to feel like we have someone we can turn to when we might need a little bit of help.

Our bodies stress response is essential for our well-being, our ancient fight or flight stress response was designed to be used in times of danger and not throughout the day. In the past year 74 percent of people have felt so stressed they have been unable to cope. I'm sure if you were able to look back at figures 5 years ago it would have been totally different.

Common signs of stress:

What you can do if you're feeling stressed at work:

Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to feel stressed at work nowadays, I have also had the experience myself of going through stress at work. I've always suffered with anxiety, so I found that when I felt stressed at work it really overwhelmed me and some days it was hard to cope. March this year was a time that stress and anxiety really got the better of me, I ended up having over a week off work because I got physically ill from being so anxious and stressed. I felt I was just going through the days like a zombie, I would go to work, come home and often just went straight to bed because that's all I could deal with. I ended up reaching out to my team leader at work and we sat and had a chat and I told him everything that I was going through. He told me that I could ask to speak to him whenever and if I started to feel too stressed or anxious I could tell him and step away from my desk. It was helpful to have the support and someone who was understanding.

Here are some things you can do if you're feeling stressed at work -

1. Don't be afraid to ask for help. At first, I felt embarrassed to ask for help but when I had I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, it was reassuring to know that someone in the workplace knew how I was feeling. We often forget that we can't do everything and we all need some help now and then. 2.Make sure you have realistic targets. You may have a massive to-do list but perhaps set the targets to be more achievable, you might find adding smaller goals to the targets helpful, so you tick them off more often. If your targets are too hard then you are less likely to reach them. 3.Take short breaks. This is so important! If you work at a desk on a computer all day it's so important that when you do have a lunch break to leave your desk. Get some fresh air by going on a short walk, allow yourself to take your mind off work. 4.Don't forget to think about what you have achieved. This is one of my favourite things to tell people. How many of you ponder on the negative things rather than the positive things? If we always focus on what needs doing, we can often forget what we have already achieved. This could help you feel more positive about your work. 5.Take up a hobby outside of work. I'm at fault for this one too but it's so easy for your life to just be about work. When you've finished work for the day or on your day off why not take up a sport or learn a new skill? Focusing your attention towards something you enjoy could help you feel more positive when you're at work. You could even get your work colleagues to join you!6.Try a traditional herbal remedy. Sometimes we need to take something to help us with our stress and there's no shame in that. Kalms Day tablets are a great one to take, they are used for temporary relief of mild anxiety such as stress and nervousness exclusively based on long standing use as a traditional herbal remedy containing Valerian root - they can help give you relief from worry and irritability which is often caused by stress. Although please read the leaflet with the tablets to find out more. 7.Surround yourself with a strong support group. I've mentioned this a lot in my previous blog posts but it's so important to have a strong support network around you. Perhaps you can confide in someone at work or make sure you have a close family member or friend that you can talk to about it. When I'm feeling stressed one of the best things for me is talking to my partner, when something is not quite right we spend a few hours in the evening talking about it - it's helpful to have someone to digest it in a different way and to give you that well needed advice. 8.Avoid unhealthy habits. Don't rely on alcohol, smoking or caffeine as ways of coping. I know it can be tempting, but these won't help you or 'fix' your issue. When I was in first year of university I was silly and used drinking as a way to help me through my anxiety and it can have such damaging effects on you and it makes it worse, yes it helped me get through that night of being around people but then I wake up the next morning I feel just as anxious if not worse.

About Kalms Day:

Kalms Day: Everyday life can often leave you with feelings of stress and irritability. Kalms Day are used to relieve periods of irritability, stress and anxiety.

Kalms Day medicinal product is used for temporary relief of symptoms of mild anxiety such as stress and nervousness exclusively based on long standing use as a traditional herbal remedy. It contains Valerian Root but always read the leaflet before taking them.

I have the Kalms Day 84 tablets which is about two weeks supply as the directions for taking them for adults is 2 tablets three times a day with water after meals. As you're most probably aware from my blog I suffer with anxiety and as well as reading self-care books, getting support from family and friends, going to the doctors, I also have been taking Kalms Day tablets. I do feel more calm and relaxed since taking them and when I am having a stressful day I find these have been really helpful. They're a well-known brand so I'm sure a lot of you have heard of them but I'd really recommend them. Before I decided to buy them I wasn't sure but I did my own research and had a look at their website and I decided to give them a try, and to be honest, I'm pretty happy I did. Have a look at their website, they have great advice on there too for stress and anxiety - website and advice article.

Thank you for reading my blog post, it's important to raise awareness for mental health days like this as it gets people talking about it, and it can often help many people. However it's not just important for this one day, it's something we should always be talking about, we should always be raising awareness for, we should always be asking for help or reaching out to others.

Have you got any tips for coping with stress at work? Please let me know in the comments below. ❤

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I love this post, Chloe. I struggle a lot with anxiety myself and I don't take any medication whatsoever. I'd heard of Kalms before but I didn't know you could take them daily, I might have to go and get some of these!

Firstly, well done on your first sponsored post! And what an important post it is as well! I work from home and I work for myself but I've definitely experienced stress and a whole range of emotions when it comes to work and money. I also suffer from anxiety and have been taking Kalms tablets for years! I'm a member of YouGov, so those statistics are quite shocking. We defintiely need to reevaluate our working life in this country!

Ooo Chloe I really needed this! I have experienced stress at work and it feels like that's all I'll ever do with my life! Taking up a hobby outside of work is a great way. My only problem was that I was stressed that my new job would take away from my hobby.. blogging!! ���� I think I do have a during support system but I didn't listen to them unfortunately which is something I regret doing. I've never thought of herbal remedies as a possible solution so this is really interesting! Thank you for posting this, Chloe ��

Great post Chloe! I had 6 weeks off work with stress and anxiety nearly two years ago. Thankfully work were really supportive in helping me back. Things I've done to help myself are introducing regular exercise, giving up alcohol, making meditation a regular habit and not bringing work home. It's hard sometimes as people at my work seem to wear doing long hours as some kind of badge of honour! I don't want any part of that though. I also do the achievements thing. I write down 3 good things that have happened daily then a longer list of achievements on a Friday before I leave work. It all definitely helps!

Thank you Alison, glad you liked it! I'm so glad work was really supportive, it's always lovely to know that your work looks after it's colleagues! Great advice on what you do for stress as well, they're all great ways to help :) xx

Great post, I'm actually a huge huge stress ball and anybody around me knows I stress about every little thing, it's not the healthiest but I'm trying to manage it better lately. I think it's important to find little things that make you happy and find a balance!

Listening to music is one of my favourite things to do in the day to relax and also reading is a good way for me to de-stress after a day of work. A great post about how to help deal with stress Chloe! x

These are great tips! It's crazy how many people suffer from different symptoms when they're stressed. I'm struggling with balancing a few things right now and I really find that writing things down and prioritising really helps. I feel a lot better if I know the important things are done. I've never tried anything like Kalms so it's great to know a little more about them xx

I love that you included to take time and recognize what you have achieved! I always feel so stressed when I write down everything that I have to accomplish for the day. One day I just started doing things (without writing anything in my planner) and as I finished tasks I would write down what I had accomplished. It made me feel a whole lot stressed!

This post spoke to me. Every single point and symptom - I was like - yup that's me, that's me...oh no so much stress! Great post, very well written. I never head of Kalms before, maybe someday I will try something like this if things get even more overwhelming in life :)

These are great tips.If you would like to look at mine do check out my post Easy Ways To Avoid the Stress of Modern Living.https://saltedcaramel.blog/2018/06/09/5-easy-ways-to-avoid-the-stress-of-modern-living/

These tips are all so useful! It's so important to look back at what you've achieved rather than getting yourself down over what's left to do. It can be easy to forget what we've actually already done and should be proud of! Great post xx

This is a great post, Chloe.Both of us deal with stress regularly and some days can be utterly impossible to stand. I (Chelsea) have used Kalms in the past and depending on how stressed I am, it's really helped.

There are so many tips for how to deal with stress. I never really think to ask anyone if I'm stressed or struggling so this is definitely some advice I need to use. It really important to remember what you have achieved and be proud of it instead of focussing on the negative. I focus on the negative to much sometimes and I need to change that so thank you for the advice and tips.

Ahh it is such a great help if you talk to someone about how you're feeling :) It's difficult sometimes to focus more on the good things, for some reason focusing on the negative is what we do to ourselves, but we can change that! Thank you for reading xx

As someone with anxiety that stems from a lot of stress, this is a really helpful list! A lot of other lists tend to stick with the basics, like to take deep breaths. While sometimes useful, they can be over simplified. I like that you included really practical measures that can be practiced, especially at work. Thank you for sharing! :)

Lovely post Chloe, I can totally relate. I take evening primrose oil to keep my hormones in check. 21st century living is so hard

Best wishes

Segilola SalamiAuthor, blogger, freelance writer and host of The Segilola Salami Show podcastBlog: SegilolaSalami.co.uk/blogFacebook: @SegilolaSalamiTwitter: @IyaYetunde1If you would like to be a guest on my podcast, please click here to do so http://www.segilolasalami.co.uk/podcast-segilola-salami/appear-as-a-guest/Please subscribe to The Segilola Salami Show http://www.segilolasalami.co.uk/podcast-segilola-salami/subscribe-to-podcast/